principally
Americanadverb
adverb
Synonym Usage
See especially.
Etymology
Origin of principally
Middle English word dating back to 1300–50; see origin at principal, -ly
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
One such location, the city of Loma Linda, Calif., has a large population of Seventh-day Adventists, who are principally vegetarian, abstain from alcohol and tobacco, have close-knit social networks and exercise regularly.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 26, 2026
Those "losses" would principally come from eliminating the need to liquify, transport and then regasify the imported product.
From BBC ● Jul. 8, 2026
For his part, Thomas writes as though history resides principally in legal texts, 19th-century dictionaries, and carefully parsed debates over sovereignty.
From Slate ● Jul. 2, 2026
Their programs were not principally drill-and-kill exercises, but extended to mathematics, English composition, geography, history, and music — piano, violin, and choral programs.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 22, 2026
While they had their coffee, and on the ride uptown, they talked, principally about Florence, how badly people treated her, and how empty her life was now that her husband was dead.
From "Go Tell It on the Mountain" by James Baldwin
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
